State Rep Hall Resigns From Office, Doctor Dimmick Scrubs In

Los Santos, San Andreas – In an official statement released November 29th, Representative Oliver Hall announced his resignation from the San Andreas State Legislature. He had just over a month and a half left in his term remaining. Currently, he does not intend to seek another term and is focusing solely on practicing law. 

As the press release mentions, former Rep. Oliver Hall holds the record for the most bills ever vetoed in the State of San Andreas, with a total of four vetoes. The vetoed bills include H.R. 176, H.R. 178, H.R. 179, and H.R. 190.

H.R. 176, also known as the Heath & Religion Protection Act of 2022, was initially proposed to, according to the bill, reestablish the Committee on Religious Freedom, Personal Health, & Safety. In addition, there was a minor reform of H.R. 109, The Health and Religion Protection Act, which removed the requirement of having a representative of Mt. Zonah as one of three members on the committee. The bill was vetoed by Governor Richard Starr due to the possibility of loopholes, a lack of a detailed impeachment process, and insufficient communication to all medical departments in the creation of the bill, amongst other conditions.

H.R. 178, The Involuntary Psychiatric Holds Act of 2022, was proposed to, as directly taken by the bill, “permit the government of San Andreas to hold an individual who poses a danger to themselves or others on an involuntary basis, to establish certain rights for those placed on involuntary psychiatric holds, and to establish a method of court review for those placed on involuntary psychiatric holds.” 

The bill was initially signed into law by Gov. Richard Starr but was later vetoed by the United States federal government due to the “verbiage” of Section 6.1.1 of the bill being too open for possible exploitation, as well as a liability to the Duty of Care, which is outlined in Section 8.1 of the bill.

The Mental Health Act of 2022, or H.R. 179, was to, as the purpose of the resolution states, “establish a procedure for defendants who are unfit to stand trial. And to establish procedure and standards for the insanity defense.” The bill was vetoed by Gov. Richard Starr for including unnecessary medical details and for excluding half of the American Law Institute Model Penal Code (ALI) in Section 5, Subsection 1.

H.R. 190, also known humorously as The Snitches Get Riches Act, was proposed, as stated in the bill, “to appropriate state funding for incentives to provide information to law enforcement.” The intent was to create motivation for the public to provide evidence and information for ongoing investigations to law enforcement for monetary rewards. Gov. Richard Starr vetoed the bill over a concern that cash rewards could be denied by the Legislatures. He suggested that a committee should be made to approve or deny such funds. He also suggested that an alter to Section 4, Subsection 1, still needed to be made.

The San Andreas Legislature later held an electronic vote to override the veto. Due to such, H.R. 190 was signed into law.

The official statement also spoke of the two failed constitutional amendments. 

The first one, H.R. 163, or the constitutional amendment to Establishing a Process to Override Executive Pardons, failed to become law after the San Andreas Judiciary stated they were opposed to its’ passing due to the possibility that the amendment could “infringe on the ability of the Executive to complete its job, and would again blur the lines of the separation of powers under our State and Federal Constitutions.”

H.R. 168, Legislative Resolutions, failed to become a constitutional amendment after San Andreas Judiciary opposed its passing. There was no public explanation for its failure to become a constitutional amendment. Had the constitutional amendment passed, it would have allowed the State Legislature to pass resolutions without the consent, nor would have been able to be vetoed, by the Governor of San Andreas. 

Some of the resolutions would have been:

• Scheduling of Elections as prescribed by Law.
• Designation of State Monuments and State Parks
• Create advisory, coordinating, study, investigation committees, or commissions.
• Confirmation of persons nominated to be Government Department Executive/Cabinet Officials.
• Declaration of State Holidays.
• Establishment or changing of rules of the State Legislature, so long as these rules do not violate the Constitution of the State of San Andreas or the Constitution of the United States, and
• Declaration of support of admonishment on behalf of the State of San Andreas. 

In total Rep. Oliver Hall was responsible for the creation of at least eight bills this term. 

At November’s Town Hall on November 30th, Lt. Governor Adrian Jax spoke on Oliver Hall’s resignation: 

“We are looking at options for placing someone into his position as there are less than two months left in the term. Once we have further information, we will provide that to Weazel, who will probably provide it over their website, for any interested parties.”

Lt Governor Adrian Jax

Rep. Joana Poole spoke on the behalf of the San Andreas Legislature during the meeting and offered Rep. Oliver Hall a formal farewell. 

“We’d like to thank Oliver Hall for his service in the legislature. Anyone knows that in the legislature we don’t always get along and we don’t always agree on everything. Oliver always conducted himself with a willingness to be open to ideas and offered his aid whenever he could. We will miss his wit and his help in the legislature. We look forward to whoever is appointed next to fill his position.”

State Representative Joana Poole

As it turns out, Dr. Jimmie Dimmick was appointed subsequently on late December 14th, 2022. He will carry out the remainder of the term. When he spoke to Weazel News he indicated he intends to run for State Representative in the upcoming election.

“I would like to thank the Governor and Lt. Governor for their vote of confidence in appointing me to replace Rep. Hall and I would like to thank him for his contributions.  Although the election time is fast approaching, my goal is to get acquainted with the job and to help out in any way I can while representing the interests of the constituents.  I am committed to representing everyone in a fair and transparent way regardless of their walk of life.  I am looking forward to the campaign and hopefully to serving the citizens of Los Santos for a full term.”

State Representative Jimmie Dimmick